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Home schooling children

V

*Venus*

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 3, 2002
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Location
Philly
Curious as to how you all feel about the subject. I thought of this when a friend mentioned that she wanted to homeschool her kids.

Is this a good thing?

Should it be appropriate only during certain points of a childs education (elementary, middle, high..?)

Benefits/disadvantages

Are most parents who do it qualified?

Anyone been homeschooled?


Personally I think its generally not a good thing for kids. I wouldn't want my parents to teach me, even if I got one on one attention.


Thoughts?
 
I think home schooling would be tough for several reasons.

Firstly, in my opinion the mother/father would need to be qualified in some form. Education is like any other career and to become a teacher means studying for many years.

Secondly, I would find it to be quiet tedious being at home "ALL" the time and certainly being around a parent all day and night. Basically living with them constantly.

And finally, home schooling would be very socially isolating. Schooling is about education, but to me also about learning to interact with people, social skills, and meeting new people. It's a foundation of which you friends and learn to socialise and develop those types of skills.

Home school would be very restricted in that sense.

So I guess Im not really for home schooling, but in some cases it may not be avoidable.

shals :D
 
if you do it at all...I'd say go with elementary.

But I think a person learns most of their social skills at that age level?

personally, I'd be against Home school.



here, put yourself in that situation....would you have wanted to be homeschooled? Because your kid will probably share some of your characteristics.
 
I'm against it. I know some people that have done it very well, but I'd prefer to be very involved in a public school that my children went to than to homeschool them. I remember loving the whole process of school...getting on the bus in the morning, lunchtime with friends, having the library to go to most days, and a new teacher every year to meet and adapt to. When Jr high came I had the chance to join chorus and quiz bowl teams that allowed me to go on trips all over the state and various other cities in the Eastern U.S.
 
I'm very much against it.

First of all, our public school teachers are trained for their jobs - and it seems that most of the time, there is little "quality control" with homeschool mums/dads.

I also believe that social interaction is an important part of growing up - including getting picked on. I was picked on constantly growing up, and it toughened me up to the real world. I understood that not everyone was going to be nice to me.

That said, I know there are plenty of successfully homeschooled kids out there that are completely normal, well adjusted, well educated people. I just think that is the exception more then the rule.
 
By the way, I mentioned that I was against it Bighead.

I know there are some people who totally disagree with me though. I've spoken to both homeschooled people who wouldn't want it any other way and those who wish they hadn't been.

I just have a hard time believing that most parent teachers are more qualified than someone who has studied the subject extensively, let alone that they've taught it before.
 
I have to agree with everyone so far. Personally I'd be against it. For a few reasons, but mainly for a non academic one.

As others have mentioned, school is going to be the primary source, outside the family, of human interaction. After you've learned your " Three R's " school in my opinion has served its purpose. It does however do a very good job of teaching you how the world is not fair and is indeed a very shit place altogether. Not the sugar coated affair you're likely to live at home. This is really important I think!

Also, I wouldn't say its entirely a good idea to let a parent take their childs education directly onboard. As, despite whatever qualifications they may have, they could never be objective enough.
 
I have a low opinion of kids of all ages, so I'd say that for those who want to do homeschooling, go for it; that's just more bullshit than I think some kids should deal with. But hey, for those who feel social interaction--or the lack thereof in a social setting--is somehow character-building, so be it.
It just wasn't for me, and I can honestly say I grew more socially in a few years of college than I did in all my grade-school years combined. Grade school, with all its trimmings is a "Seinfeld" episode; the real-world is "Macbeth." One is clearly worth more than the other, IMO.
 
I'm studying to be a teacher and feel that homeschooling is not a good option. There are absolutely no benefits of it. Any positive effects of homeschooling are overshadowed by too many negatives associated with the practice.
You could even look at theories of gender identity as just one argument to support going to school and not being home schooled. Socialisation plays a huge role in gender identity, it is not the sole theory but it is the one with the biggest effect on this particular thing. Breaking away from that home environment is crucial to the development process of children, in so many areas - self-awareness, self-esteem, gender identity, criticism (constructive or other).

I find that the reason the families I know want to homeschool their children is because they want to protect them from the world. This is not the right approach because they are aiming for something that is ultimately unattainable. They will be exposing their child/children to a susceptibility of greater damage.

School environments are so crucial to our development as people they should not be avoided.
 
We've had this discussion before. Although it started out in a thread regarding a spelling bee.

this link provides the positives of homeschooling from someone who actually does homeschool and not just theorize about it.

Happy reading. :)
 
I really don't know anything about homeschooling, although I think beaner's outline sounds great :)

I'm actually just interested in how someone (anyone) homeschools multiple children of different ages?
 
They way i have my day arranged Anna is that my youngest does his computer work first and watches an educational movie from our homeschool video library (kind of like Netflix) and while he is doing that i am going over our twins work which is highschool.
After going over it they work independently on it and then they also have computer work such as online classes and a blog they have to keep. When they are doing that i am with the younger. We have everything wrapped up by one usually and then we go to our fun classes or field trips .Bi- weekly we have an early homeschool activity that meets at 10.

One teacher can't effectively reach every child because they can't focus solely on every child's needs let alone teach according to that child's learning style. Heck, my SIL who is a public school teacher (3rd year) didn't even know that there were different learning styles. She never heard of John Holt either. When i asked her just what style of teaching she did learn to teach she looked at me all confused and said "the Sunshine State standards" or something like that which means she went to college to learn how to teach the way the govt wants her to in the Florida public school system. She is also dumber then a box of rocks and then the school system put her in kindergarten to teach her first year. Even i know a first year teacher should never be given kindergarten because they have to work their teaching kinks out so to speak and kindergarten is an important year in the devolopment process..

Anyways, that is off topic but my point Anna was meant to be that it is much easier to teach a small number of children individually then it is for one teacher to teach and reach an entire class.

Also, i'll let you in on a really good Live Journal i stalk that i found on the friends list of another bluelighter. She's a writer who pulled her son out of public school when he was in 3rd grade to homeschool after some traumatizing situations in public school with her son. She has her son's homeschool journal also linked here that you can check out. I think i have a secret crush on her. She has inspired me to give my son Jacob his own site this year:
http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=gnomeygirl

her cookbook also makes me want to consider eating meat again too ;)
 
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^^you'd have to give up pies, cookies, cakes, breads, etc... don't do it! :D

And I'll just add this - I used to be "against" homeschooling for all the reasons listed above but I've pretty much changed my mind on that one...
 
Well I have a very positive view on home schooling , mainly because I used to be tutored by a mother who home schooled her kids from about year 7 I think (start of high school)..

Firstly you have to be qualified to home school children, you cant just take it on yourself to tutor them, because their is a curriculum to follow etc.

This lady I had contact with, was wonderful, She taught her kids with the same rules as normal school, started at the same time, ended etc, same amount of homework etc.
Her kids were brilliant students, They send their work away to be marked unbiasedly for exams etc. The kids excelled in so many areas of their study, One was choosen to perform over seas for her musical talent etc.
The kids also had a good social ,life friends just like any normal child.

I understand that not all home school situations would be as effect as this one and The reason was probably because the mother/teacher had the most amazing teaching ability Ive ever seen.

I think homeschooling probably wouldnt suit all situations, Only if the teacher was confident that she could carry out alll the duites.

:)
 
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